"Ignorant!

" Yan Jiuxi saw Shen Mu charging straight at him and laughed aloud: "Divine Son of Youdu, you truly are ignorant, daring to clash head-on with me. It seems the lesson you learned last time was not enough! You do not know how formidable the bloodline of Lady Earth Mother is!

" Shen Fengqing said hurriedly: "Little brother, this dwarf is formidable—his divine abilities are uncanny, and he wields two fine swords, frightfully heavy. He cut me so badly it hurts.

" Yuan-magnetic divine light spread all around Yan Jiuxi, and his yuan-magnetic divine power erupted. As Shen Mu charged in, he suddenly felt as though countless stars were pressing down upon him, making his very flesh sink with unbearable weight. The yuan-magnetic divine light around Yan Jiuxi at once transformed into two divine swords.

He seized them in hand, and the sword-light flew as he slashed at Shen Mu's three heads and six arms, laughing: "Out of tricks, are you? Lady Earth Mother is my mother; I inherited the Earth Mother's bloodline. In the prime of my manhood, who dares stand against me? " "Yuan-magnetic divine ability?

" Shen Mu raised one palm with immense difficulty; his arm was so heavy he could scarcely lift it.

Yan Jiuxi's sword-light was already upon him.

Shen Mu bellowed, and his palm-force erupted. Countless crystalline heavenly fires gushed forth in a frenzy, splitting outward with a ringing clang-clang-clang, and in an instant, for thousands of li around, there was nothing but crystalline heavenly fire! Yan Jiuxi's yuan-magnetic divine swords pierced through one heavenly-fire crystal after another, and just then the cry of the Great Sun Star Lord came: "Crown Prince Jiuxi, do not touch those crystals!

Retreat at once—" But it was already too late. When Yan Jiuxi's yuan-magnetic divine sword pierced the first heavenly-fire crystal, the might of the heavenly fire erupted at once.

Roaring flames melted the yuan-magnetic divine sword, and the terrifying shockwave detonated the eight heavenly-fire crystals around it.

Those eight crystals burst, and in turn detonated yet more heavenly fire. Boom, boom, boom— Almost all the heavenly-fire crystals detonated in a chain at the same instant. The explosion took Yan Jiuxi as its center; space itself was blasted to fragments, and the terrifying heavenly fire invaded the depths of space. Sky and earth were melted away, exposing cross-sections of space that burned without cease.

Amid the quaking of earth and mountains, a colossal fireball rose slowly, burning all things.

Even the demonic qi of Youdu and the continent beneath Lord Tu's feet were burned through! The fireball swelled; wherever it passed, all was vaporized, leaving only a string of hollows, and around those hollows, cross-sections of space set ablaze. That was the power of Lord Heaven.

Lord Heaven, Lady Earth, and Lord Tu wielded different powers; they were the most ancient of beings. Shen Mu used the Great Way of Heavenly Fire to break Yan Jiuxi's Great Way of Yuan Magnetism, but Yan Jiuxi's fame was not unearned.

Amid the terrifying shockwaves of the heavenly fire, this demigod actually shielded his whole body with countless layers of yuan-magnetic divine light. The explosion tore through untold layers of that divine light, yet could not threaten his origin.

The surging heavenly fire surrounded him in layer upon layer; even the yuan-magnetic divine light melted away ceaselessly within the heavenly fire, unable to pose a threat.

Within the flames, Shen Mu held a sword in one hand and thrust the great blade.

With a hum, the sword-light broke through the yuan-magnetic divine light and, with a ding, nailed itself between Yan Jiuxi's brows. Countless runes whirled madly at Yan Jiuxi's brow, blocking the sword. His yuan-magnetic runes shattered ceaselessly under the sword-light's force; the sword-light pierced into his brow, advancing with immense difficulty. Yan Jiuxi retreated; the heavenly fire swept in and set his primal spirit alight.

Yan Jiuxi roared in fury as his primal spirit burned, giving off wisps of green smoke. Suddenly a screech came from within the heavenly fire, and the Great Sun Star Lord passed through the flames, three sharp claws reaching for Shen Mu.

Shen Mu's body shrank rapidly, returning to its ordinary size. The Great Sun Star Lord grasped at empty air, and hastily shook his wings, transforming into a god with a bird's head and a human body, with three bird legs.

His wings flapped like divine blades; tumbling and rolling, with wings, claws, and beak, he attacked Shen Mu madly by every means! He had witnessed the might of the heavenly fire and knew well that in the arts of flame he could hardly surpass Shen Mu now, so he simply refrained from divine abilities and fought at close quarters instead. Though his body was dead, his primal spirit was exceedingly powerful—after all, he was a famed ancient god of the Longhan era, and in close combat he seldom feared anyone!

Feathers like swords, divine wings like blades, talons like hooks, beak like a lance—every part of him was a weapon, enough to put Shen Mu to death!

"Divine Son of Youdu, in close combat I have never lost! " The Great Sun Star Lord, his momentum like a rainbow, cried: "Great Sun, a Thousand Feathers Slash the Mystery!

" Countless feathers flew from his wings; the divine feathers were like swords, a thousand feathers weaving through, and with a hiss-hiss-hiss-hiss, Shen Mu's body at once gained one bloody hole after another. The Great Sun Star Lord shook his wings; the thousand feathers returned and became two wings again, slashing at Shen Mu in succession like two divine blades spinning and cutting at furious speed. The wounds on Shen Mu's body healed swiftly. His arms flew, blocking the attacks, and he laughed: "You're full of bull.

" The Great Sun Star Lord was startled; at the word "bull," his mind involuntarily conjured the figure of an ox-headed god-devil towering between heaven and earth. He too had once been defeated, though that was long, long ago—at the Jade Pool in the early years of Longhan, where he had been beaten bare-handed by the Golden Guard General Niu Ben.

That was a monstrous humiliation! Later his mastery of the sun's divine fire grew ever higher, and he was confident he had long surpassed Niu Ben.

He wished to avenge that shame, yet could never find Niu Ben again. Shen Mu freed a hand to deal with him, yet the sword between Yan Jiuxi's brows remained.

Heavenly fire blazed all around Yan Jiuxi; he retreated madly, yet Shen Mu clung to him like a shadow.

The Great Sun Star Lord's attacks grew faster and fiercer, yet he could never break into Shen Mu's defensive circle.

Just then, Yan Qianzhong, braving the heavenly fire, charged in and joined the battle. "Dance of the Myriad Dragons of the Great Evolution!

" Countless fire dragons bared claws and fangs around Yan Qianzhong, weaving in and out. He was like a god-devil with countless divine dragons growing from his body; in both divine strength and divine ability, he was utterly terrifying!

The Great Sun Star Lord breathed a sigh of relief. Yan Qianzhong had, after all, been a being of the Imperial Throne realm in life, and his mastery of flame divine abilities was fearsome; he was a hegemon of Youdu, unafraid of the heavenly fire's burning.

The Great Sun Star Lord and Yan Qianzhong joined forces against Shen Mu. Yan Qianzhong's body shook; his flesh shrank to match Shen Mu's size, and the two attacked madly from left and right.

Yet Shen Mu still held them both off, and that sword still pressed against Yan Jiuxi's forehead, its light already piercing into his skull. The four of them moved their feet madly, and their various attacks boomed with earth-shaking din.

Suddenly a flute's note came from beyond the heavens.